Rugby league is probably grateful it
started in Australia in 1908 and not 1906. Why? Celebrations
of any kind this year would be wildly inappropriate for the two remaining foundation
clubs – the Souths Rabbitohs and the Sydney Roosters.

Both
clubs are in crisis, and, in the case of the Rabbitohs, the team last weekend
suffered its worst defeat in its history – a 66-0 humiliation at the hands of,
wait for it, the New Zealand Warriors. They languish at the bottom of the
premiership table and all but have the 2006 wooden spoon in their hands.

The
Sydney Roosters are hardly in much better shape – and it is starting to tell
both on and off the field. The Roosters are having a dreadful season and last
Sunday succumbed to the Canberra Raiders by 44-10, a score line that flatters
the Roosters.

The
turmoil in the Roosters was on full display yesterday when the Daily Telegraph splashed across its back
page the headline “Roosters at War”, and a report detailing an on field
incident last Sunday in which Craig Fitzgibbon and Brett Finch hurled abuse
(unprintable even in the Telegraph) at each other.

Rumours
about unhappiness in the Roosters camp have been around for weeks, and while
coach Rick Stuart’s position is not under threat, or so he says, the team’s woeful performance must
be testing his patience.

Back
to the Rabbitohs. After their worst ever performance in 98
years the axe has been wielded – not on the players – but on the Assistant
Coach, Arthur Kitinos.
Isn’t that’s a bit like
a trainer sacking the stable hand after a poorly judged ride at Royal Randwick
by a jockey?

Even with
the tough Holmes a Court – Russell Crowe team now controlling the club, drama
over the future of the Rabbitohs continues, with the struggling to attract
quality new players for 2007. In the recent players poll, 50 players nominated
the Rabbitohs as the team they would least like to join, followed by the
Warriors and Roosters on 10.

Say no
more.